DENNIS LYNDS (MICHAEL COLLINS) writes the Dan Fortune series that began in1967. There are now 19 Dan Fortune books, the most recent being Fortune's World, Crippen & Landru, published in 2000, a collection of short storiesspanning from 1963 to 2000, that, with Crime, Punishment And Resurrection, 1992, contains all the Fortune stories prior to 2000. His most recentnovel, The Cadillac Cowboy, 1995, features a new protagonist whose name may or may not be Ford Morgan. A collection of non-Fortune stories, Spies And Thieves, Cops And Killers, Etc., was published in 2002 by Five Star.

As Mark Sadler, John Crowe, William Arden and Carl Dekker, he has publishedanother 18 crime novels and 13 juvenile crime novels. Under his real name he has published three novels and two collections of stories, the most recent being Talking To The World, (1995) a short novelwith five stories. A fourth Lynds novel, Pictures On A Bedroom Wall, is with a publisher now. His mainstream stories have been published in many ofthe literary journals, including New World Writing, Hudson Review, Cimarron Review, Western Humanities Review, Carolina Quarterly, and South Dakota Review, and have appeared in Best American Short Stories. He was twice short-listed for the Drue Heinz Literature Prize for a collection of shortstories.

He has won the Mystery Writer's of America Edgar for one novel, been nominated for two more Edgars, one in 2002. Also in 2002 he was awarded TheMarlowe Lifetime Achievement Award for distinguished writing by MWA's SoCalChapter. He has been nominated for three Private Eye Writers of America's Shamus Awards, and awarded PWA's Lifetime Achievement Award. His mystery and detective short stories have appeared in Best Crime & Mystery Stories of The Year many times.

Other honors include the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kriminalliteratur of West Germany's Special Commendation for his entire body of work to that time, 1981; President, Private Eye Writers Of America, 1985; Guest of Honor, 8th Festival du Roman et du Film Policiers, Reims, France, 1986; Guest of Honor, La Ville Est Un Roman, Consiel General, Seine Saint-Denis, Paris, France, 1991.

He has just sent a thriller, The CEO, to his agent; is working on his 20th Dan Fortune novel; his fifth Lynds novel, Gung-Ho, Sam And Maxine; andanother collection from Crippen & Landru featuring his early magazine series character, Slot-Machine Kelly.

Born in St. Louis, his mother and father were both English actors and for his first six years he was raised in England, in a village near Oxford and in London. Later his parents returned to the States and he grew up in Los Angeles, Denver, and New York city.